LaPierre Gun Control
Claudia Peinado
Professor Nelson
RWS 100
26 November 2013 Gun Control
INTRO: In Wayne LaPierre’s transcript of the “Newton Shooting”, and Sam Harris’ “Riddle of the Gun” both authors touch upon scenarios within our society and lead into their personal opinions on behalf of each situation. In response to the Newtown Shooting, where 26 children and staff were brutally murdered, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and American philosopher and author Sam Harris attempt to convince the public that we need armed security guards in our schools to protect our children. Although LaPierre and Harris use different rhetorical strategies to convey their claims, their purposes and overall argument are quite similar as they both try to change societies view on guns, gun violence, and gun policy in our society. In making their arguments both authors use several statistics and analyze several gun laws to show that guns are not the cause behind these mass murders. How is that we live in a world where security guards have guns at virtually every mall, movie theatre, or airport yet when the debate arises on why we don’t have guns to protect our children in our school districts the answer is simply that we do not have the funds? In they apply the rhetorical strategies of compare/contrast, definition, and rhetorical questioning his speech LaPierre utilizes the rhetorical strategy of identification in which he connects himself to his audience, whereas Harris utilizes the rhetorical strategy of prolepsis for which he voices the opinion of the majority and then paints a picture on why these opinions when put into action would prove ineffective.
PATHOS: In the transcript of the “Newton Shooting “speech LaPierre utilizes the rhetorical strategy of pathos EXPLAIN PATHOS by relating his speech to his audience by speaking of the “most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family—our children who are being left utterly defenseless”(65). In hopes of hitting
Professor Nelson
RWS 100
26 November 2013 Gun Control
INTRO: In Wayne LaPierre’s transcript of the “Newton Shooting”, and Sam Harris’ “Riddle of the Gun” both authors touch upon scenarios within our society and lead into their personal opinions on behalf of each situation. In response to the Newtown Shooting, where 26 children and staff were brutally murdered, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and American philosopher and author Sam Harris attempt to convince the public that we need armed security guards in our schools to protect our children. Although LaPierre and Harris use different rhetorical strategies to convey their claims, their purposes and overall argument are quite similar as they both try to change societies view on guns, gun violence, and gun policy in our society. In making their arguments both authors use several statistics and analyze several gun laws to show that guns are not the cause behind these mass murders. How is that we live in a world where security guards have guns at virtually every mall, movie theatre, or airport yet when the debate arises on why we don’t have guns to protect our children in our school districts the answer is simply that we do not have the funds? In they apply the rhetorical strategies of compare/contrast, definition, and rhetorical questioning his speech LaPierre utilizes the rhetorical strategy of identification in which he connects himself to his audience, whereas Harris utilizes the rhetorical strategy of prolepsis for which he voices the opinion of the majority and then paints a picture on why these opinions when put into action would prove ineffective.
PATHOS: In the transcript of the “Newton Shooting “speech LaPierre utilizes the rhetorical strategy of pathos EXPLAIN PATHOS by relating his speech to his audience by speaking of the “most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family—our children who are being left utterly defenseless”(65). In hopes of hitting